How This Ironman Trainee Switched to Marathons and Made Her Way to Olympic Trials – runnersworld.com

When Nell Rojas toed the line at Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota, last month, she didn’t think winning was a possibility. Sure, the 31-year-old native of Boulder, Colorado, had created some buzz when she won the Boulder Bolder 10K in May, but Grandma’s was not only a historically competitive race, it was also just the second marathon she’d ever run.

“After Boulder Bolder, some people told me I could win Grandma’s, but I said, ‘Okay, you’re crazy,’” Rojas told Runner’s World. “I saw the start lists and knew people were coming in with really fast times. I knew I could run 2:28, but I didn’t tell anyone that. If you keep your goals private, you can just focus on yourself and not worry about meeting others’ expectations.”

When the starting gun sounded on June 22, Rojas set out at 5:40 mile pace, planning to hold that speed all the way to the finish. For the first few miles, she was running with the women’s lead pack of four, but she noticed early on that her competitors seemed to be struggling to maintain the pace. Once they reached the 10K mark, “I started believing I could actually win this,” Rojas said.

The Colorado runner dropped the fading pack, pairing up with non-elite male runners who were going her speed. She continued monitoring her body for signs of fatigue, keeping in mind that “the marathon really starts at mile 20,” she said. By the 13-mile mark, she was running beside one other man. But with nine miles to go, her companion slowed down, and she was left to surge ahead to the finish alone.

“I had no idea what was going on behind me,” Rojas said. “I didn’t know if someone was going to make a move and sleep past me. I was running for my life.”

Rojas pulled through, drawing on the strength she had honed from doing grueling solo long runs during training. She broke the tape in 2:28:06, shaving more than three minutes off her previous personal best and securing the Olympic marathon standard (sub-2:29:30).

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Her time ranks her as the 10th-fastest woman heading into the 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials in Atlanta, which is remarkable, considering just a few months ago she was training for a different sport entirely.

From Basketball to Track, Then Triathlon to Marathon

Growing up in Boulder, Rojas was always surrounded by running. Her dad, Ric Rojas, was a professional runner who competed against running legends like Frank Shorter, whom Ric beat at the first Bolder Boulder 10K in 1979.

Though Rojas would win the same race 40 years later, when she was a kid, most of her running took place on basketball court. Her dream wasn’t to make the U.S. Olympic team, but to be a pro basketball player.

“I wanted to be in the WNBA,” Rojas said. At Boulder High School, she sandwiched her winter basketball seasons with cross country and track, hoping all the miles would improve her performance in the paint. That is, until she realized she was winning more races than she was out-playing her basketball teammates.

While Rojas’s high school times weren’t spectacular—she posted 5:18 for a mile, 2:18 for 800 meters, and 18:11 for a 5K—she was able to walk onto the team at Northern Arizona University in the fall of 2006. She quickly proved her worth: In her freshman year indoor track season, she shaved her mile time down to 5:01.20. By the time she graduated in 2010 with a degree in exercise science, she had clocked 16:28.11 for 5,000 meters and 10:17.88 for the 3,000 meter steeplechase.

While she finished her college career on a high note, Rojas needed some down time after graduation. “I was ready to stop running,” she said. “But I was still competitive. So my dad suggested that I try triathlons.”

Since she was used to swimming and cycling for cross-training, adapting the three-sport training regime wasn’t too challenging—in fact, it came naturally. Over the next few years, Rojas filled her time competing in triathlons and obstacle course races, and soon began to coach triathletes and runners in Boulder.

“I was coaching people who were training for Ironmans, but I had never done one myself,” Rojas said. “I knew I had to do one to be authentic. So I signed up for the Boulder Ironman in spring 2019.”

To prepare for the run leg of the Ironman, Rojas signed up for the 2018 California International Marathon (CIM). Leading up to the race, she maintained a triathlon training plan: Sixty to 75 miles of running, three one-hour swims, one 90-minute bike ride, and two to three lifting sessions per week. The extra cardio boost she got from cross-training paid off, as she finished CIM in 2:31:23, placing 7th in the race and hitting the Olympic Marathon Trials “A” standard (sub-2:37) in her very first stab at 26.2 miles.

“After that, I figured I was good enough to just run,” said Rojas, who decided to scrap the Ironman and instead run Grandma’s Marathon in June.

Gaining Strength to Break the 2:30 Barrier

Going into her second marathon, Rojas decided to make a few tweaks to her training and diet. To increase her iron and protein intake, she started eating red meat daily. She also made sure to keep her energy levels topped off with gels during hard sessions, so when race day came, she’d be prepared to fuel on the run.

“At Grandma’s, I constantly had a gel in my mouth,” said Rojas, who said she packed 10 GU gels in her shorts for the marathon.

Under her dad’s coaching guidance, Rojas did more marathon-focused workouts before Grandma’s than CIM, but she still kept up her cross-training routine. As the owner of a strength gym in Boulder, she was able to fit in weight lifting sessions regularly. “I’ve found so much benefit in lowering my mileage and adding strength training,” she said. Outside of the gym, she boosted her endurance with 20-mile long runs that increased in pace, ending with a 10K hammer at around 5:30 to 5:45 pace.

“After doing those long runs, I knew I could hold 5:40s at Grandma’s,” said Rojas. “During the race, there were times when I wanted to stop and cry, but I told myself, ‘just focus.’ The work was done.”

Now with a 2:28:07 marathon personal best and a major race win under her belt, Rojas can take a breather. This fall, she’s planning to do a couple quick, fast races, then begin training for Atlanta.

“The Trials course is hard, which works in my favor. I’m definitely a strength runner,” Rojas said. “I’m excited to compete with the top girls. I’m still new to marathoning, but I’m all-in now.”

Digital Editor Hailey first got hooked on running news as an intern with Running Times, and now she reports on elite runners and cyclists, feel-good stories, and training pieces for Runner’s World and Bicycling magazines.